Cold
by Avril Lambert
Summary: Vampires have taken over DunBroch and Merida is one of the most known vampire hunters. But when she meets and falls for Jack Frost she starts to question everything she's known. John and Jim are attacked by vampires and John is turned while Jim is left for dead. Jim makes a deal with Pitch Black to get John back. Sinbad deals with an eternity of guilt over the death of his friend.
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE: **_Year 513_

* * *

Meg knew something was wrong right away. She ran as fast as she could through the woods towards the Fearling prison. She had the skirt of her dress balled up in her fist to keep from tripping over it. The bottoms of her sandals were threatening to give way and the stones and sticks bit at the exposed parts of her feet. She pushed herself to run faster, despite her lungs feeling like they were on fire. Every part of her body wanted her to stop running, but all she could think of was her husband.

Kozmotis Pitchiner was the general of the Golden Army. Their main adversaries were horrible shadow creatures known as Fearlings. Kozmotis and his men captured the creatures and they were now locked up. Kozmotis volunteered to guard the prison with the help of his second in command, Sinbad. Meg was against him volunteering, knowing it would be dangerous; Fearlings had a reputation for being deceitful and tricky.

Now it seemed Meg was justified in her fear.

When she reached the prison she saw the Fearlings were out of their cage and were engaged in a battle with Kozmotis and Sinbad. Of course the Fearlings had the upper hand and the men were losing. Kozmotis was suddenly ambushed and knocked to the ground.

Meg fell to her knees as tears escaped from her eyes. "Oh, Gods," she whispered.

"It's a shame about your husband."

Meg looked up and her heart leaped into her throat. A man dressed all in black with fire as hair was suddenly standing in front of her. She didn't have to ask his name... It was Hades, God of the Underworld.

"Are-are you here to take Kozmotis?" Meg asked. She didn't wait for him to respond before rushing on. "Please don't take him. I'll do anything, just don't let the Fearlings kill him."

Hades cocked an eyebrow. "Anything?"

"Yes! Please help him."

Hades thought for a moment. "Very well. I will spare his life if you give me your soul."

Meg hesitated. "Are you going to kill me instead?"

Hades chuckled. "No. I have other plans for you, Megara Pitchiner."

Meg glanced over at her husband. The Fearlings had him pinned to the ground. They'd kill him soon. "Deal."

Hades extended his hand to her and she shook it. Hades flicked his hand and all of a sudden thousands of Fearlings surrounded Kozmotis.

Sinbad tried to help his friend, but couldn't catch a break from the Fearlings. He fought as hard as he could, but by the time he could get away he was just in time to see the Fearlings completely cover Kozmotis and consume him.

"No!" Sinbad called out.

He charged towards them, but he was stopped by thick black smoke forming around the entire area. He started coughing and fought through the smoke, but he couldn't see anything. After a few moments, the smoke cleared. The Fearlings and Kozmotis were gone. Sinbad was completely alone and there was no sign of the battle that had just been raging on moments before.

"General!" Sinbad shouted. "Kozmotis!"

There was no reply as Sinbad looked around frantically. _The Fearlings killed him, _he thought. _This is all my fault. I should have had his back. My friend is dead because of me._

Sinbad removed his armor and unsheathed his sword. It wasn't right for him to be alive while Kozmotis was dead. Kozmotis was a better man than Sinbad and deserved better. He held his sword out in front of him, then without any hesitation, he plunged his own sword through his stomach. He collapsed on the ground and dropped his sword.

Sinbad could feel his blood pouring out of his body and he knew it would take long for him to bleed to death.

"I'm sorry, General," Sinbad whispered.

-_XXX_-

The overwhelming scent of blood caught Ariel's attention as she walked through the woods. Her hunger drove her towards the source. She was surprised to see a man lying alone in a pool of his own blood. Her canines slowly grew into fangs as she approached him. She sank to her knees beside the man. He was almost dead. He was beautiful. His black hair fell over his perfect face and since he wasn't wearing a shirt she could see he had muscular body. She ran her fingers over his chest and he opened his eyes. His eyes were dark brown, almost black, but they were lifeless.

"Am I dead?" he asked, weakly. "Are you an angel?"

Ariel smiled down at him. "No. Not even close. What is your name?"

"S-Sinbad." He coughed and blood came out of his mouth.

Ariel didn't know what came over her, but she felt pity for the man. "Sinbad, my name is Ariel. I'm going to make the pain go away."

Sinbad didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and his body became limp. Ariel bit her wrist and held it to his mouth. A few drops of blood fell into his mouth and he wrapped his lips around her wrist. When he had had enough, she pulled her arm away.

Sinbad sat up and looked down at stomach; the wound had healed. He glanced at Ariel. "What did you do to me?"

"I turned you."

"Into what?"

"A vampire."

-_XXX_-

When Meg woke up she was lying on cold stone. She groaned and sat up. She looked around and instantly felt dread as she realized she was in the Underworld. Hades wasn't far from her and he was with Kozmotis. Meg quickly got to her feet and rushed over to them.

"You're all right!" Meg flung her arms around Kozmotis' neck.

Kozmotis was stiff and didn't hug her back. "Who are you?" he asked.

Meg took a step back and looked up at him. "Kozmotis, it's me, Meg; your wife."

Kozmotis gave her a disgusted look. "I don't have a wife. And my name is Pitch. Pitch Black."

Meg's eyes grew wide and she turned sharply towards Hades. "What did you do?"

"Our deal was that I wouldn't let him die. He belongs to me now."

"I don't understand. Why doesn't he remember me?"

"He is possessed by Fearlings. He doesn't remember anything about his previous life."

Anger welled up inside Meg and she tried to punch Hades, but her hand went right through him as if he was made of smoke.

Hades chuckled. "Did you honestly expect to get a happy ending after making a deal with the God of the Underworld?"

* * *

**NOTE: The beginning of this story is loosely inspired on the backstory of Pitch from _Rise of the Guardians,_ based on the _Guardians of Childhood _books.**


	2. Chapter 2

**1500 years later...**

**Year: **_2013_

* * *

Jim watched the rain fall outside the cabin window. It was dark outside and the only light came from the lightning as it snaked across the sky. He and his boyfriend, John, were celebrating their two year anniversary of dating and went to the secluded cabin in the woods that Jim used to go to with his family when he was younger. It had been a while since he had been there and he had to admit the memories he was making with John were infinitely better than the ones he had made with his family.

Now Jim was lying on the master bed, waiting for John to get out of the shower. When he heard John turn the water off, he repositioned himself so he was sitting up. John came out of the bathroom, soaking wet with a towel wrapped around his hips. He slipped on a pair of boxers, then threw his towel back in the bathroom and got into bed with Jim. Even though John was still wet, Jim let him pull him close.

"This was a great idea," John told him.

Jim rested his head against John's shoulder. "Yeah it was. It feels good to get away."

John lightly ran his fingers over Jim's arm. "I can't believe your parents agreed to letting us use the cabin."

Jim glanced up at John. "Actually, they don't know about it."

John sighed and pulled away from Jim. "Do they even know about us?"

"No."

"Jim, when are you going to come out to your family?"

"It's not that easy," Jim said. "You've met my dad; how do you think he'd react to me telling him that his eighteen year old son is gay and dating a man who's five years older than him?"

"I understand that. But, Jim, I don't want to be your dirty little secret forever."

Jim frowned. "That's not how I see you."

"I know it's not. But, you haven't come out to anyone, yet, so we have to keep our relationship a secret."

"I'm just not ready."

John reached over and brushed Jim's hair off his face. "I don't want to push you or pressure you in anyway. But, I love you, Jim Hawkins, and I want to tell the world that I'm in love for the first time."

Jim smiled up at John. "I love you, too."

"Please tell your family about us."

Jim didn't reply right away. He knew he had to come out eventually, but he really was worried about how his dad would react to John. After all, John was twenty-one when they started dating and Jim was only sixteen. That alone would be enough to make his dad hate him. But Jim being gay would be grounds for him to disown Jim altogether and try to beat John to death. The only hope in the situation would be to tell his sister first. Jane was very open minded and also their parents' favorite child because she was always well-behaved and got straight A's in all of her classes. Jim knew Jane would help soften the blow when he came out to his parents. Still, he had a hard time mustering up the courage to tell her.

"I'll tell them when we return at the end of the weekend," Jim finally said.

John's face lit you. "Do you mean that?"

"Yes."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

John slipped out of the bed and picked the jeans up off the floor that he had worn earlier that day. He pulled something out of the pocket, then got back into bed.

"Then I have promise for you, Jim," John said. He took Jim's left hand and slipped a thick silver and black ring around his ring finger. "I promise that I will always love you and be faithful to you. No matter what happens, I promise to be only yours forever."

Jim stared at the promise ring for several moments, speechless and with his heart racing. It was only when Jim was able steady his heart and come back to reality that he noticed John was waiting for a response.

"I accept this ring with a promise to love you forever," Jim whispered. He had no idea what to say after getting a promise ring and he was sure he sounded totally lame.

John seemed pleased, though. He smiled at Jim and kissed him. "I'm so happy with you."

Jim straddled John and kissed him. John wrapped his arms around Jim's bare torso and pulled him close. Jim gripped the headboard behind John to keep his balance. Jim started kissing John's neck, but he needed John's kiss again and brought his mouth back up to John's. He slipped his tongue into John's mouth and sighed when it was met with John's.

John sat up on his knees and broke the kiss briefly to toss Jim down on the bed. Jim kept his eyes intently on John as John lowered himself on top of him. Within seconds they were kissing again. John ran his hands over Jim's body, driving Jim crazy. Their bodies were slowly and gently grinding against each other and Jim broke the kiss to let out a moan.

"Please don't stop kissing me," John pleaded softly.

Jim kissed John again, but this time with more lust. He gripped John's boxers, eager to rip them off. He took his time, though; wanting this moment of passion to last longer. John took Jim's hand and pinned it down above his head. John slowly broke the kiss and smiled down at Jim.

"God, I love you so much," John told him. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"You won't ever have to find out. I'm never going to leave you, John." Jim reached up to gently touch John's face, then kissed him again.


	3. Chapter 3

The only way to kill a vampire is to cut off its head. Nothing else works. Pure silver can restrain them. Dead man's blood is like poison for them and will weaken them. But decapitation is the only way to truly kill them.

No one was more skilled at this than Merida, Princess of DunBroch. She was only sixteen and had already killed more vampires than her father. Although, her father only hunted when he had to. Once Merida was born he had hoped to give up hunting to protect her, but hunting was in their blood and neither of them could fight it. Merida loved it. The people of her kingdom depended on her and she was happy to step up and protect them.

But, her father was still hesitant. He still saw her as a little girl and didn't think she should be hunting. He couldn't deny she was the best, though.

Now they were on another hunt together, along with her brother, Thomas, and a notorious hunting couple, Aladdin and Jasmine. Aladdin and Jasmine weren't from a family of hunters like Merida and her father and her brother. They hunted as revenge for losing people they loved to a vampire's blood lust.

"Merida, a word."

Merida's thoughts were interrupted by her father's voice. "Yeah, Dad?"

"We need..." he cleared his throat. "_I _need you in the trees tonight."

"Oh, come on! I'm the _best_ hunter; I can fight with you."

"Merida, this isn't up for discussion."

Merida threw her head back and groaned in frustration. "Fine!" She sheathed her machete and made her way to the nearest large tree.

She climbed up it and when she had good view, she readied her bow. Merida was a master archer. She had laced all of her arrows with dead man's blood and her father used this to his advantage. He would have her work as a sniper whenever he could to keep her out of combat. She would shoot as many vampires as she could to weaken them just long enough for her father, Thomas, Aladdin and Jasmine to kill them. It was a boring job that she didn't care for it, but she didn't disobey her father.

It didn't take long for nearby vampires to sniff them out and find them. Within in minutes they were completely surrounded and a battle was in full swing. The vampires underestimated them, though. It was easy for her father and brother and Aladdin and Jasmine to kill them, but more vampires just kept coming. Merida crouched on the tree limb and started shooting at every vampire she saw. One by one they fell, crying out in pain. Merida smirked as she released more arrows.

A low growl stopped Merida. It wasn't a vampire. She glanced down to see a large wolf standing at the base of the tree. He was staring up at her and snarling. Merida gulped. A shape shifter. She had never fought a shape shifter before; fortunately, they could be killed the same way as any animal.

And she was a hunter.

Merida aimed her arrow at the wolf and released it. The wolf dodged it and lunged at the tree. Merida cried out in surprise and stumbled, causing her to lose her balance. She clutched her bow tightly as she fell from the tree. She landed on her feet and quickly shot another arrow at the wolf. He caught it in his mouth and snapped it with his teeth.

In an instant he was lunging at her again. She managed to dodge him, but his large claws caught her arm, leaving deep gashes. Merida let out a small scream of pain. The wolf slowly walked towards her. She grabbed an arrow from her quiver but, with her injured arm, she was too weak to shoot the bow.

The wolf howled and a moment later he was joined by a female vampire. She had brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and was wearing blue, skin tight leather pants with a white leather jacket. The vampire ran her hand over the wolf's head, but didn't take her eyes of Merida.

"You must be Merida." Her voice was smooth and entrancing. "I've heard a lot about you."

"I've never heard of a vampire that runs with wolves," Merida said, gripping her arrow.

The vampire didn't get a chance to respond. Her father and brother ran towards her. While her father fought the vampire and wolf, Thomas came to Merida's side.

"Dad wants me to get you out of here," Thomas told her.

Merida let Thomas lead her towards their home. Once they were back, he helped her clean her wound.

"What kind of vampire works with a wolf?" Merida asked.

"Her name is Belle." Thomas dabbed her gashes with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball and she winced. "The wolf is Adam, her mate."

Merida snorted. "Vampires are incapable of love."

"That's not true. Actually they love their mates more strongly and deeply than humans."

Merida watched Thomas bandage her arm. "I have a hard time believing that."

"Well, believe it. You'll need to remember that if you ever go up against a vampire and their mate again," Thomas told her. "If dad and I hadn't come, Belle would have ripped you apart just for attempting to kill Adam."

"She would have done that anyway."

Thomas shook his head. "Vampires don't kill for fun. They kill to feed and in self defense. Belle would have left you alone if you hadn't tried to kill Adam."

"I don't know, Thomas..."

Thomas raised an eyebrow at her. "Clearly you don't know a _lot_ about vampires; other than how to kill them. With your ignorance, they'll kill you."

Merida glared at him. "I'm the best vampire hunter there is. Why are you criticizing me?"

"Merida, you're my sister and I could have lost you today," Thomas replied, quietly. "You need to know more about your enemy than just their physical weakness."


	4. Chapter 4

Aladdin and Jasmine returned home after the fight. They each had vampire blood splattered on their skin; Aladdin collapsed on the couch, making no attempt to clean himself up while Jasmine went right into the bathroom to take a shower. She always came home from a fight completely exhausted. She had become a vampire hunter only a couple years ago, but it felt like she had been doing it her whole life.

Five years ago she and Aladdin started dating. Two years later a vampire, Gaston, killed Aladdin's mother. For the last three years Aladdin has been dead set on avenging his mother by killing Gaston. Jasmine had been just as hurt and angry about what happened and wanted to kill Gaston, as well. But now, three years later, she had killed so many vampires, but none of them were Gaston and she was just tired.

After Jasmine finished cleaning herself up in the shower, she filled up the tub for a bath to relax and soothe her sore muscles. She lit a couple of candles, then lowered herself into the warm water. She let out a sigh and leaned her head back against the tiled wall. A few minutes later Aladdin walked in. Jasmine smiled up at him as he sat down on the floor beside the tub. Aladdin had the same weary, disappointed look he always had after a fight that didn't end with him killing Gaston.

"Don't you ever just want to quit?" Jasmine asked.

"Not until I kill Gaston," Aladdin replied. "Why? Do _you _want to quit?"

"Yes," Jasmine admitted, quietly.

"Why? I thought you were on my side with this?"

"I am, baby. You know I am. It's just that I'm so tired. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."

Aladdin didn't say anything for a long time and Jasmine was afraid that he was mad at her for wanting to quit hunting. Finally, he said, "Well, I can't quit. I have to do this for my mom."

"You don't _have _to," Jasmine said carefully. "Do you really think your mom would want you to be living like this?"

"You don't understand."

"Of course I do. I guess I just miss living a normal life."

Aladdin leaned his head back and glanced at Jasmine. "You don't have to do this anymore, if you don't want to. Just know that I need you to. I'm stronger when you're with me, Jasmine."

Jasmine scrunched up her nose at his attempt at a guilt trip. "Fine, Aladdin; I'll keep fighting. But only for another year. One year from now, whether we've killed Gaston or not, I'm done."

"That's fair."

"Good. Now take off your bloody clothes and get in this tub with me."

Aladdin removed his clothes, tossing them to the floor and slid into the tub across from Jasmine. He reached under the water, grabbed her legs and pulled her closer to him until she had her legs wrapped around him.

"Wanna know a secret?" Jasmine asked in a low voice. "I think watching you fight is really hot."

"Yeah?"

Jasmine smiled at him and nodded. "Oh yeah."

The look in Aladdin's eyes was lustful and intense, but when he kissed her it was gentle and passionate. When they parted, Jasmine reached up and wiped the blood off Aladdin's face.

-_XXX_-

Eric stood on the balcony outside of his room. He looked out at the moon with a heavy heart, knowing that another ten vampires in his clan were killed by Merida, her family and Aladdin and Jasmine. The vampires knew all about the hunters, but some of the clan members were cocky and attacked on impulse, thinking they could easily defeat five humans. They always underestimated the hunters.

Eric put his hands on the railing of the balcony and leaned forward, lowering his head. He let out a sad sigh. With no mate and his clan being picked off one by one, Eric was beginning to feel very lonely. But, being almost two thousand years old, this was a feeling Eric had become very familiar with. Not that it got any easier, though. It was why he had sired Belle in the first place five hundred years ago. He had gone out to feed and when he found her she was sitting all alone in the street in the rain. All she had was the clothes she was wearing and a book that she was currently using to shield her head from the rain. When he asked her why she was sitting outside in the rain by herself, she told him that her parents had died and she had nowhere to go. Eric felt pity for her and thought she could be the companion he had been looking for for many years. But about twenty years ago she met Adam and Eric lost his companion.

In a vampire's life, twenty years is nothing. Still, the years seemed to drag on for Eric. He was one of the oldest living vampires and been everything imaginable and sometimes he just wanted to shut himself off from the world for a few decades. But, his clan needed him; now more than ever.

Eric decided to go for a walk to clear his mind. In one swift motion, he leapt over the railing of the balcony. He landed gracefully on the stone driveway four stories below.

It was late and as he walked through the town, most of the streets were empty, leaving him alone with his thoughts. More than anything, Eric wanted to find his mate. Vampires only fall in love once in their lifetime. Some vampires are lucky enough find their mate early, but Eric was not one of them. Two thousand years and no one had ever come close.

"You're so predictable," Belle said landing in front of him.

Eric looked up at the sky, wondering where she had jumped from. "What do you mean?"

Belle fell into step beside him. "Even without our sire connection, I knew I'd find you here."

Since Eric was the one who turned Belle (a process which involves the human ingesting the vampire's blood), the two of them had a strong connection. They could sense where the other one was and what they were feeling. In some cases, the connection was so strong they could feel everything that was happening to the other one as if it were happening to them.

"I'm glad you survived the fight with the hunters," Eric told her.

"Barely. The king came after Adam and me, but we managed to get away. No one else survived."

"I know. We gathered their bodies an hour ago."

"I'm sorry for your losses," Belle said. Since Belle was the only vampire to run with a werewolf (many years ago there was a rivalry between vampires and werewolves and since then, they stayed away from each other), the other vampires tended to shun her. She didn't fit in with anyone else and didn't really consider them her clan. As far as she was concerned all she needed was Adam and Eric.

"They brought it on themselves," Eric said, hoping he didn't sound as sad as he was. When being as old as he was and a clan leader, it was expected of him to always be strong no matter what. He especially wanted to be strong around Belle since he knew she looked up to him, but it was impossible to lie to her about how he was feeling due to their sire connection. Still, he did his best to convince her he was okay, even when most of the time he wasn't.

"Yes, they did," Belle agreed. She stopped walking and reached out to Eric. He stopped and looked down at her. "I know you're sad," she told him. "And lonely. And you've almost given up hope, but I _know _you'll find a man who will love you. You'll be happy again."

Eric smiled at her. "I appreciate you trying to comfort me. But I've lived twenty lifetimes and I've never found my mate."

"You're going to live forever, Eric. Odds are you'll find him eventually. It could be tomorrow or seven hundred and forty two years from now. But, you'll find him."


End file.
